


Seasonal Solidarity

by Alexis_Rockford



Series: Fictober 2018: 31 Fandoms in 31 Days [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AO3 FACEBOOK CHALLENGE, AO3 FB Challenge, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fictober, Marauders' Era, One Shot, POV Severus Snape, Young Severus Snape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-15 03:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16054538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexis_Rockford/pseuds/Alexis_Rockford
Summary: Fifteen-year-old Severus Snape finds himself stranded at Hogwarts for the holidays. Who will bring him some much needed Christmas cheer?This ficlet was written in response to the Fictober prompt for October 6, 2018: Declined





	Seasonal Solidarity

Severus Snape stared darkly at the dying embers in the common room fireplace. The Christmas holidays had arrived at last, and most of the students had already left to spend them with their families. Snape’s mother had sent a letter by owl several days ago informing him that his father was very ill and cross and advised him to stay at the school. He had been only too eager to comply. His father was not a pleasant man at the best of times, and when he was feeling under the weather, he lashed out at his son even more than usual. So Severus had been only too happy to write back that he would remain at Hogwarts until the new term began.

Of course, that had been before Lily had been invited to spend the interim at the Potter house with James and his friends. Normally, she chose not to associate with these “Marauders” or whatever idiotic name they called themselves, but Remus had looked so pleadingly at her when his friend asked, Snape had been certain she would say yes. He had pushed past the lot of them and headed down to the dungeon, slamming every door between himself and the Slytherin common room. Now as he sat here, growing colder as the minutes ticked by, he wished he had at least wished his friend a Happy Christmas before she left.

Severus waved his wand at the hearth and whispered “Incendio” under his breath, and the fire roared back to life. His extremities began to warm, but his heart felt as frozen as ever. He was just about to practice one of his new curses on a passing rat when he heard the door to the room fly open.

He was on his feet in an instant, wand at the ready. Whoever had come back to torment him was in for a nasty surprise. When he saw the halo of ginger hair and the flash of emerald eyes, he immediately stood down. “Lily?” he asked in confusion. “What are you doing here?”

“Bringing some Christmas cheer to my best mate in the entire world of course,” she said cheerily as she began to levitate a few evergreen garlands decked with sprigs of holly. She hung them high on the walls where they took on a deeper shade thanks to the green light shed by the lamps in the dungeon. “And if you didn’t want me following you down here, you should never have given me the password.”

“That’s not it,”  he began, blinking his beady black eyes in confusion. “It’s just that I thought…”

“Never mind what you thought,” she replied, her eyes dancing. “I’m here, and here I intend to stay.”

“You’re not even going home yourself?” he asked incredulously.

She shrugged. “Christmas at the Evans house isn’t much merrier than Christmas at the Snapes’.”

“Touche’” he conceded with a low chuckle. He couldn’t seem to drag his eyes from her. She was so beautiful, so kind. He still couldn’t figure out what he had possibly done to deserve a friend like her. And yet, it was getting to the point when friendship wasn’t enough for him. He needed more. He needed _her_. But why would someone like her want to be with someone like him when she could be with someone popular like James Potter?

“I still can’t believe you turned Potter down,” he murmured, gazing deeply into her eyes.

“Oh, please,” she protested. “James Potter is a prat. I _did_ want to go for Remus’s sake, but I didn’t want to give that conceited jerk the satisfaction of accepting _any_ proposal, no matter how small. Besides,” she continued with a grin, her lips redder than the reddest holly berry. “I couldn’t leave you here all alone.”

Snape couldn’t stop staring at her. He felt as though he were falling into the endless green depths of those lovely eyes.

“Severus,” she whispered, her cheeks gaining a pinkish hue. She pointed up, and he noticed that they were standing under a sprig of mistletoe. Where had that come from?

“Well, it’s bad luck to break with tradition,” he said with a smirk, trying desperately to conceal the fact that he was trembling all over.

Lily nodded. Closing her eyes, she leaned over and softly brushed his lips with hers.

In the history of kisses, this one wouldn’t even rank in the top one million. But to fifteen-year-old Severus, it was the most amazing kiss the world had ever known. He knew then that he loved her, always had, probably always would. But could he tell her?

“Lily,” he began hesitantly.

“Yes?”

Those eyes penetrated right into his soul. She must know how he felt. He may as well tell her.

“I...I...I’m glad you decided to stay,” he finished lamely.

Her lips curled up into a sweet smile. “Always,” she said.


End file.
